Athen. vi. 157. That the trade of lantern-making was of considerable importance in the ancient world may be inferred from the great number of lanterns made use of in fortified cities, either when actually besieged, or when apprehensive of sudden attacks from the enemy. See on this subject a long and interesting passage in Æneas Tacticus, cap. xxvi. p. 81, seq. Ed. Orell. Cf. cap. xxii. p. 67, seq. ----- In some parts of Greece when individuals, not possessing costly furniture, desired to give a grand entertainment, they hired whatever articles they stood in need of, as seats, beds, vases, &c., of a broker, whose business, in the island of Samos, was once carried on by the tyrant Polycrates.[1084] ----- Footnote 1084: Athen. xii. 57. ----- As ivory entered largely into the making of furniture among the ancients,[1085] the reader will not regret to find here an explanation of the means by which it was rendered soft and tractable. This secret appears hitherto to have escaped the modern writers on Art. Monsieur Dutens[1086] and the Milanese editors of Winkelmann[1087] observe, that the ancients possessed the art of softening ivory without, however, giving any intimation that they understood in what the secret consisted. But the whole matter was extremely simple, since they merely steeped the piece of ivory about to be worked in a fermented liquor, called zythos,[1088] prepared from barley, and drank commonly, with or without a mixture of honey, by all persons in Gaul. Many of these ivory ornaments were produced by the turning-lathe. They turned also from the knots of the Arcadian fir large bowls of a shining black colour.[1089] There was even a kind of stone which, being soft when drawn from the quarry, was turned and cut into bowls, plates, and other articles for the table, which were susceptible of a high polish, and became hard by constant exposure to the air.[1090] ----- Footnote 1085: Luc. Cynic. § 9. Somn. seu Gall. § 14. Footnote 1086: Origine des Découvertes, p. 194. Footnote 1087: Histoire de l’Art. p. 34. Footnote 1088: Εὐεργης δὲ καὶ ὁ ἔλεφας γίνεταὶ βρεχόμενος αὐτῳ. Dioscor. ii. 109. Footnote 1089: Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 7. 1. Footnote 1090: Id. de Lapid. § 42. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 44. Tournefort, Voyage, t. i. p. 209. -----